SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 125 ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE FOX INDIANS By WILLIAM JONES EDITED BY MARGARET WELPLEY FISHER SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 125 ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE FOX INDIANS By WILLIAM JONES EDITED BY MARGARET WELPLEY FISHER f^'i,' UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1939 •For gale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C., Price 25 cents LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, D. C, December 10, 1988. Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a manuscript entitled "Ethnography of the Fox Indians", by William Jones, edited by Margaret Welpley Fisher, and to recommend that it be published as a bulletin of the Bureau of American Ethnology. Very respectfully yours, M. W. Stirling, Chief. Dr. C. G. Abbot, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. CONTENTS Page Preface vxi Introduction 1 Traditional history 7 Cosmogony 10 Manitou 10 Nature beliefs 18 Medicine . 23 Color symbolism 24 Witches, evil spirits, and ghosts 26 Mythology 30 Daily life.. 50 Everyday life 50 Costume 54 Social observances 55 Marriage 55 Divorce 60 Birth customs 61 Menstrual customs 62 Mortuary customs 64 Social organization 72 Fox gentes 72 The dual division __ 80 Political organization 82 Crime and punishment 84 Ceremonies and games 88 The sacred feast .. 88 Feasts of thanksgiving 91 Notes on gens feast dances 93 Other ceremonies 104 Ceremonial paraphernalia and related data 106 Games 109 Bibliography of Jones' publications 115 Appendix A.— Miscellaneous social data - - 117 Appendix B.—Genealogies 138 Appendix C.—Lists of gens names 140 Appendix D.—Ceremonial data 144 Index. _ 151 v PREFACE A few years ago the Smithsonian Institution received a letter from a lawyer in Oklahoma informing them that the ethnological notes of William Jones had come into his hands, and asking them if they would like to have them. The Smithsonian Institution was very glad to have them, for these notes had been written by one of the most colorful figures in American anthropology and had disappeared from sight some 20 years before. William Jones was born March 28, 1871, on the Sauk and Fox Reservation in Oklahoma, of an English mother. His father was the issue of a marriage between a Fox woman and a white man who had gone west with Boone and had fought in the Black Hawk War. When William Jones was about a year old his mother died, and he was given to his Indian grandmother for rearing. With her he lived the life of an Indian boy until she died. He was then 9 years old. Then his father took him, but the child was lonely in his new surround- ings, and his father sent him to school. After 3 years of schooling he returned to his father's house and became a cowboy. This life ended in 1889, when he went to Hampton Institute. He proved to be a good student and ambitious for further schooling. From Hampton he went to Andover, and from Andover a scholarship enabled him to go to Harvard. He went to Harvard planning to study medicine, but once there he fell into Putnam's hands, and Putnam suggested to him that he had unusual qualifications for a career in anthropology. This idea did not at first attract him, but in the end he was won over, an important factor in the decision being his uncertainty as to how a medical education could be financed. He was graduated from Harvard in 1900, and finished his training at Columbia, receiving his M. A. there in 1901 and his Ph. D. in 1904. Jones had spent his summers ever since his first year at Harvard in field work with different Algonquian tribes. He became interested in a comparative study of Algonquian religions. He wanted to go to Labrador and work with the Naskapi. But he could find no perma- nent employment in Algonquian research. In 1906 the Field Museum gave him his choice of three expeditions—to Africa, the South Seas, or the Philippines. He finally consented to undertake the Philippine vn VIII PKEFACE expedition. In August 1907 he left Seattle for Luzon. In the spring of 1909, when he was on his way out, he was murdered by the Ilongots. After his death his collection of Ojibwa and Kickapoo tales was edited by Dr. Michelson. Dr. Boas found a few notes on the Fox Indians which he published in the Journal of American Folklore in 1911. But the rest of his Fox papers were missing and their where- abouts remained undisclosed until the death of his father. Then through the family lawyer the Smithsonian Institution learned that Jones Senior had felt that much of the information divulged to his son had been due to his own friendship with the Foxes, and had therefore been unwilling that this material should be published during his lifetime. After these manuscripts were turned over to the Smithsonian Institution a sum of money was granted Dr. Michelson by the National Research Council so that the material might be edited, and this task was entrusted to the writer. There would be little more to add except for an intriguing passage in Henry Rideout's little book, "William Jones": "The Iowa Foxes initiated him into many ancient mysteries of their religion, which have never been disclosed to a white man. Jones committed to paper an account of these, with sketches, diagrams, and the full interpretation which probably no other man could have supplied. The document he then sealed. It will not be opened until the older Indians have gone to their fathers, taking their lore with them" (p. 47). This caught my attention at once, and since none of the material turned over to me had required unsealing, I at once started a search for the sealed manuscript. Since this passage had previously at- tracted attention and is likely to attract others in the future, it seems best to give a brief account of attempts to solve the mystery, and conclusions reached. I first discussed the matter with Dr. Michelson. He said that Dr. Boas had noticed the reference, had tried to track down the material, and had concluded that there was no such manuscript. The next move was to write to the family lawyer, who was com- pletely cooperative, but expressed the belief that everything which Jones had written had been sent to the Smithsonian Institution. It did not yet seem time to give up. According to Rideout's state- ments, this sealed material had been gathered in the summer of 1897. It seemed possible that Professor Dixon of Harvard might have some knowledge of it. Dixon made a search of the Peabody Museum files and safe, but could find nothing. He did corroborate the fact that this material once existed, and remembered that it had been sealed. PREFACE IX This letter caused the search to be carried on with renewed vigor. Three of Jones' most intimate friends, Henry Rideout, William Morrow, and Raynold Boiling, who might have been able to throw some light on the problem, were dead, but a number of his close friends were left, and an effort was made to get in touch with all of them. E. W. Deming, the artist, remembered hearing Jones speak of that particular manuscript, and knew that it had been sealed and put away, but could not say where. He went over some of Jones' letters which he had, but could find nothing that would help. Dr. Wissler, with whom Jones lived while he was a student at Columbia, could not recall his ever having mentioned a sealed manu- script and was inclined to consider it a myth. Miss Caroline Andrus, to whom Jones was engaged at the time of his death, could give no personal information as to the manuscript, but she got in touch with Miss Folsom, the woman who brought Jones from the west, and whom he looked upon as a second mother. Miss Folsom had read part of the manuscript and had seen the sketches. Miss Andrus and Miss Folsom were both very helpful, and what Miss Folsom was able to recall about the paper the manuscript had been written on led me reluctantly to the belief that "the sealed manuscript" was among the papers which I had—now appearing as The Sacred Feast. For the benefit of any others who may be inter- ested, the correspondence on the matter is being filed with the original manuscripts in the care of the Smithsonian Institution. About the actual editing little need be said. The editor takes responsibility for the arrangement of the material, chapter headings, the introduction, all footnotes except those initialed by Dr. Michelson, and appendices A and D. No liberties were taken with the original material except occasionally to relieve the grammar, or to harmonize the phonetics with Jones' published Fox Texts. Acknowledgments are gratefully made to W. E. Wells, the lawyer who rescued the manuscripts from oblivion, and to all those who assisted in the search for the sealed manuscript. Particular acknowl- edgments are due to the National Research Council, whose funds made this work possible; to Mr. M. W. Stirling, Chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology, through whose courtesy the facilities of the Bureau were afforded me; and above all to Dr. Truman Michelson, who gave generously of his time and the results of his experience throughout the process of editing the manuscript. Margaret Welpley Fisher. Washington, October 1, 1984- ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE FOX INDIANS By William Jones INTRODUCTION The Fox Indians are interesting to anthropologists for a number of reasons.